We have an entire culture that rewards spiritual narcissism and grandiosity and can no longer differentiate between true spiritual awakening and spiritual psychosis.
Sometimes a person goes to an ayahuasca ceremony, breathwork retreat, meditation intensive, or has a powerful mystical experience, and instead of becoming more humble, grounded, and embodied, they become more inflated, grandiose, dissociated, or detached from reality.
They come back claiming to be awake or to have been saved by Jesus, and that they are chosen. Some claim they received special codes and knowledge indicating they are in contact with aliens, ascended masters, or spirit guides who transmit information only they have access to.
All of a sudden, they are a “shaman,” a “spiritual teacher,” a “starseed,” a “lightworker,” or a “grid worker.”
They build a new identity around the experience and mistake it for spiritual realization and awakening, when in fact they have fallen more deeply into illusion and grandiosity. They are “dreaming to be awake,” as Gurdjieff would say.
The ego starts to become spiritualized, they begin to identify with archetypes, and they are easily deceived by imposter spirits.
In fact, if there is unresolved trauma, a fragile sense of self, unprocessed shame, or no real grounded psychological foundation, the experience can make the person worse.
The light that breaks through can illuminate everything they have suppressed. And if they cannot integrate it, they may either inflate into spiritual grandiosity or fragment into dissociation.
This is one of the great dangers in modern spirituality.
On top of that, we live in a world where a materialistic worldview dominates and labels any spiritual experience as hallucination, with no real framework to help people who are going through a spiritual emergency.
In our new episode of The Cosmic Matrix Podcast, Laura and I explore the fine line between genuine spiritual awakening, spiritual emergency, and what many refer to as spiritual psychosis.
We look at why powerful spiritual experiences can become dangerous when they are not properly integrated, why ego strength matters, how trauma and shadow come to the surface during awakening, and why discernment is essential on the path.
LISTEN HERE:
- Spiritual Awakening or Spiritual Psychosis?
https://veilofreality.com/2026/06/27/spiritual-awakening-or-spiritual-psychosis-tcm-177-part-1/